Strengthening Research Practices at the Inter-American Development Bank

Best practices for transparent, reproducible, and ethical research adopted by the Inter-American Development Bank.

In 2018, CEGA’s program on open science, the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS), partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a leader in the generation of knowledge on economic development in Latin America, to formalize internal standards for improved transparency and reproducibility. “Best Practices for Transparent, Reproducible, and Ethical Research,” the resulting technical note, recommends practices relevant for a variety of research activities including surveys, evaluations, economic analyses, and other applied research methods at the IDB. The note is now used to guide the development of protocols and training resources for IDB staff.

These resources build on collaborative work between BITSS, the IDB, and the World Bank, including a chapter on research transparency and ethics in the second edition of Impact Evaluation in Practice published in 2016. The impact of these efforts will reach both Bank research staff and their government partners, as the technical note was co-developed with IDB’s Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness, which monitors quality control of the Bank’s research. Though primarily developed for the IDB, these outputs provide useful guidance for other research organizations looking to formalize standards for transparent, reproducible and ethical practices.